LONDON, September 20, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Abortion advocates have for years successfully used a strategy of wildly exaggerating the number of illegal abortions in order to convince legislators in various countries to legalize abortion. Euthanasia advocates now seem to have begun emulating their fellow death advocates.
The latest testament comes from a story in The UK Guardian that claims 18,000 Britons are euthanized by their doctors every year. The 18,000 claim comes from “euthanasia expert” Dr. Hazel Biggs, director of medical law at the University of Kent and author of Euthanasia: Death with Dignity and the Law. Briggs claims her figures come from evidence of numbers from doctors in the Netherlands and Belgium, where euthanasia is legal, and from British doctors themselves.
“Dr. Hazel Biggs is a pro-euthanasia advocate who has no problem with colouring the truth in order to bring about her goal of euthanasia and assisted suicide on demand in Britain,” stated Alex Schadenberg, executive director of Canada’s Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. “Dr. Biggs fails to point out that, in the Netherlands and Belgium where euthanasia is legal and regulated, several reputable studies show that its practice is ‘out of control. Schadenberg added that “Dr. Biggs fails to mention that euthanasia is completely unnecessary due to advances in pain and symptom management.” The UK’s Pro-Choice Forum web-site describes Biggs as a lecturer in law, with much of her research centred on “pro-choice arguments and their impact on decision-making at the beginning and the end of life. She believes that abortion law and ethics are presently inseparable but that raising awareness of the tensions between the limitations of the present legal position and the constraints it generates will expose the potential for legal reform.” Schadenberg’s group points out that this “credible expert”“sounds a bit biased.” Church of England and Roman Catholic bishops submitted a joint submission to the House of Lords select committee which is examining Lord Joffe’s private member’s bill on Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill. In it they said: “It is deeply misguided to propose a law by which it would be legal for terminally ill people to be killed or assisted in suicide by those caring for them, even if there are safeguards to ensure that only the terminally ill would qualify.” Read related LifeSiteNews.com report: Poll Claiming 50% of Brits Would Assist Suicide Skewed and Misrepresentative https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/sep/04090906.html tv